The Pearl of Venus
by Chesire-Grin
Summary: The title might change, so may the subject. A girl named Malaya has run from MI6, only to have them finally caught up with her, could this be her last taste of freedom or will Alex help her out of MI6 clutches.


Dark voices always hold secrets, its inevitable, unbearable, but true and that's what their voices betrayed that night. There were two of them, both men, both Asian, though they had only met a while ago they resided in each other, bearing a burden of having confidence in the other, though it was another person whom they knew nothing about. It was truly a difficult task. To in trust your life in the hands of another and its amazing that they accomplished it at all, for many of us never could, but they did and they began their task.

It was a gruesome one to be said, truly sad in a way for art lovers like myself, to read about the theft the next day, it was a simple Spanish piece, by a man known as Valezquez (1) and he was one of my most adored painters. It was his painting of the goddess Venus that had been ruined, in truth it had been one of my favorites. It depicted a woman with beautiful flowing hair and a black pearl earring, she faced us though with her back but we could see her face, because of a mirror that was angled towards us passing by. It was as lovely as ever, though in mirror a different reflection greeted us, as the pearl that was once black was now white. Not entirely sure why though it reminded me of something I lost many a year ago, and it strangely brought tears to my eyes.

So when I'd heard it had been ruined, permanent marker, ink, paint both oil and acrylic, and pencil all used to deface it, I was unnerved. It angered me greatly and so that is where are story began when the two Asian men, who I now know are called Emir and Gulden, finished their crime as awful as it sounds. Though things were not as they seemed. For as you recall I did mention that they had vandalized a painting, but sadly I was wrong about what painting it had been. For though it was beyond repair noone had ever really inspected it in great detail. If they had they would have seen the, thin paper had softness to it, it had a slight gloss, and in the bottom left corner of the page a small indent read, Reed's Prints. But of course no one realized this, that is no one but MI6.

Assuming that the thieves were going to auction off the painting to a private dealer they attended all auctions possible, frequently checking online databases for a possible sale but sadly nothing turned up. They had hit a dead end, my team and I had hit a dead end, we felt helpless. Then something happened that rarely ever happened, my boss, who goes by the name of Alan Blunt, did some that was about as plausible as seeing pigs fly. He smiled. And though I should have been happy, I wasn't. For his smiles, not matter how rare, were never a good thing, I knew he was plotting. Finally after a long silence he turned to me. (2)

"Alright Miss Jones, I know how to solve our little dilemma." He said in his tone, so high and mighty, I bit my lip in anticipation, though it was not for good reason. Nodding absentmindedly I waited for him to continue, then only thing keeping me sane was the peppermint in my mouth, a vivid mint taste helped to calm my unsteady nerves.

"We shall have to call on one of our younger agents.-" He began but I cut him off.

"You can't mean Alex? He's just gotten Back from Peru a week ago there is no way I will allow you to send that child somewhere else again do you understand me? We can't do this to him, Alan, he might get hurt."

"Are you quite finished?" He questioned, annoyed obviously, but his face betrayed nothing. I nodded again, reluctantly of course.

"I was suggesting someone of a different gender perhaps?"

"You can't mean.-" I started in shock. There was no way she would come willingly let alone stand to be near Alan at all, she was a unique individual and not exactly the most friendly worker of ours.

"Why yes. Who else did you think?" He said perfectly calm, his face stayed in place, not a flicker of emotion to be seen. I stared at him stunned, he couldn't possibly think that his plan would work, could he?

He took my silence as acceptance.

"Alright then it's agreed. Tomorrow we will inform the rest of the staff to go after our missing agent, Malaya will be free (3) no longer.

* * *

(1) This is one of my favorite paintings so I thought to include it. It's a painting of the goddess Venus, will a black pearl earring and a white pearl earring in the reflection, it is beautifully done and I have a print of it in my bedroom.

(2) If you haven't guessed who that was by then (seriously though if you didn't...) it was Miss Jones point of view.

(3) The trick in this is that Malaya means " free " so that's why he says so, just in case you didn't get that.


End file.
